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Kemi Badenoch speaks about the future for the Conservative Party in a visit to Lincolnshire Show




The leader of the Conservative Party is hoping to win back support across Lincolnshire after what she described as a "historic defeat" in last year’s General Election.

Kemi Badenoch, who has led the party nationally since November 2024, attended the 140th Lincolnshire Show on Thursday (June 19). Speaking to press, she said the party was "under new management" and outlined changes to policy and a new approach aimed at regaining the trust of residents in a county that has historically been a stronghold for the party.

Kemi Badenoch spoke to the press at Lincolnshire Show
Kemi Badenoch spoke to the press at Lincolnshire Show

Over the last three years, the party’s influence in the county has weakened at every election. In 2023, it lost control of West Lindsey, South Kesteven, and Boston borough councils.

The following year, it lost parliamentary seats in Lincoln, Scunthorpe, Grimsby, and Boston & Skegness – the latter previously regarded as one of the party’s safest seats.

Most recently, the Conservatives also lost control of Lincolnshire County Council to Reform UK, as well as the first-ever mayoral election for Greater Lincolnshire.

Reflecting on the recent General Election, she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "We had a historic defeat in 2024. We lost seats all over the country, not just in Lincolnshire, and that is because a lot of people felt they didn't understand what it meant to be Conservative anymore.

"They saw other parties who seemed to be wearing our clothes, and what we need to do is acknowledge that mistakes were made. Things like immigration, for example – I changed party policy. We want to see foreign criminals, for example, deported. This is one of the things we've made party policy.

"We need to stop the conveyor belt to British citizenship. We need to make sure the people who get British citizenship are net contributors, and not people who need welfare or social housing – which means that people from here are not able to access a system they have been paying into."

Mrs Badenoch also criticised rival parties, arguing they have no idea how to deliver on the promises they have made.

"There are other parties, like Labour for example, who have just said what they were going to do. They haven't thought about how they're going to do them. People thought they had plans, but they didn't – they were just announcements. Reform is doing the same thing, and we need to show that we are the only party that actually has a 'how' and not just a 'what'."

The Tory leader, who took over from former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, acknowledged that Reform UK, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party are gaining traction – something she previously attributed to "protest votes" – and claimed that people no longer trust politicians.

When asked why people should trust her, she referred to her role in the Post Office scandal, in which thousands of innocent subpostmasters were pursued for apparent financial shortfalls caused by faults in an accounting software system called Horizon.

"People can trust me because of my personal record. The reason why I am leader of the Conservative Party is because of what people saw me do while I was in government," she continued.

"I was the person who got the convictions overturned for the postmasters who had a historic injustice done to them – I did that. I was the one who exposed the scandal that was happening with young children being sterilised. There are so many things that I did which I am proud of, and which people felt they could trust – that's why I'm leader of the Conservative Party.

"What I need to do is get that message across the country so that people know what kind of Conservative Kemi Badenoch is."



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